Kill Your Heroes
by DeathMeetsLife
Summary: Dick wants to help. Artemis wants to break. Wally just wants to go home. [A Post-Endgame fix-it]
1. Dick

**Dick**

It was past midnight at the Watchtower, and Dick saw only a few Leaguers wandering the halls as he passed. Almost everyone was back home on Earth for the night with their family and friends; Dick was in the Watchtower for the same reason.

In the days since the League thwarted the Reach's attempts to destroy the planet and Wally's… "ceasing," the young man had slept all of five hours (though not through lack of trying on Bruce's and Bab's parts). It was not the first time that Dick had lost family or friend, and he knew it was not the last, but he was completely unprepared for the emotional backlash from his best friend's death.

Despite Wally's retirement from the team a few years previous when he and Artemis had headed off to Stanford, the inseparable duo had continued their close-knit relationship. It had not been as difficult as some might have thought, considering the easy access of the zeta tubes allowed them quick transportation between Palo Alto and Bludhaven. Even though the topic of the undercover mission had become a point of contention and a stressor on their relationship, their friendship had remained solid. Dick, at some difficult points, had dared to consider the possibility that one day their friendship would be broken, whether through anger or misunderstanding, or maybe even due to "irreconcilable differences" (because, any Leaguer knew, the diffusion of the Wally-Dick alliance is comparable to divorce).

Never had he ever thought that the cause of their broken friendship would be death.

Dick shook his head. Such thoughts were the reason he had such dark circles under his eyes, why his skin had a sickly pallor. Because when Wally died, Dick became a ghost, and anyone who glanced his way could tell. He had haunted the corridors of Wayne Manor, drifting in and out of awareness, until Alfred convinced (ordered) him to face his numbing feelings head-on.

And so, it was past midnight at the Watchtower, and the Dick stood, frozen, before the doors of the Memorial Hall.

He drew a deep breath. He released it.

He drew another.

Dick opened the door before he froze once more and strode into the dark atrium. He let his eyes adjust to the change in lighting, and he heard the mechanical door hiss closed behind him.

The chamber would have seemed like an empty, black void if not for the eerie light cast from the hologram projectors. He gathered himself and pressed forward, eager to face the shattered pieces of his best friend that he had hoarded away into some dark cavity in his soul. Dick approached where he knew Wally's memorial to be before he jerked to a sudden stop as he took in the sight before him.

He felt his heart shatter further.

Dick had no idea how long she had been there, but Artemis had at some point curled herself into a ball at the foot of the memorial. She was not dressed in her uniform – her identity among Leaguers was more or less an open secret – but he recognized the civvies she wore to be one of the sets of clothes kept in Kid Flash's locker on the Watchtower. She seemed to be drowning in the oversized red and yellow hoody she had wrapped herself in.

Artemis.

_How could he have forgotten about Artemis?! _

Dick clenched his hands, and he absently noted the tears of frustration biting against his lashes. Wally was his friend. Wally was his _best friend_. And Dick did not even have the courtesy – no, _decency _to look in on the love of his _best friend's_ life?! He had abandoned her to her own consuming misery, and where was she now?

Curled, alone, in a room empty of everything but the holographic ghosts of friends, lovers.

He did not have to steel himself before looking up at the face of his best friend.

_I'll do better, Wally. She won't be alone. I'll take care of her._

Dick pressed forward, pushing past the lump in his throat as he pulled Artemis' prone figure into his arms. This close, he could count the salt lines that had dried on the blonde's cheeks. He held her close to his chest and made his way to the zeta tubes, to Earth. To family and friends.

_I'll do better._

It was past midnight at the Watchtower, and Dick took Artemis home.


	2. Jade

**Jade**

"No, Roy, it's fine. She's with me. Yeah, we're headed up there now. Take your time. He was your friend, too. Work things out with Kaldur, also, do you hear me? He's prime babysitting material. Alright. I'll take care of things on this end. Yeah, you too. Bye," Jade sighed and hung up. She glanced into her rearview mirror, and a small, cheerful face looked back. "Okay, Lian," she spoke softly, "time to go!"

"Go! Go!" the little redhead giggled softly and kicked her feet in her car seat. Her mother smiled lightly as she opened her door and stepped into the Palo Alto sun.

It was not her first time in the city, but it was certainly to first under the current circumstances.

As she eyed the apartment, Jade settled her daughter on her hip. Was it really a good idea to bring her? It's not really as if she had a choice… Roy needed time to grieve on his own, and she would give it to him.

She rapped neatly on the door. Only silence. She was about to raise her hand again when it slowly creaked inward.

Her sister was pale, thin. Thinner than Jade remembered, when she saw her just a few weeks ago. Dark rings circled under bloodshot eyes, and she chewed on her chapped and torn lips. She slumped tiredly against the doorframe.

"What do you want, Jade," Artemis' voice scratched, coarser than it was normally, "I really can't deal with anything you want me to do or not do or _whatever_ right now."

The elder sister released a small sigh and softened her posture. "Oh, Artemis," she breathed, "that's not why I'm here."

A look of broken confusion swept over Artemis' face. "Then why?"

"I'm here to be your sister."

Jade could see the walls behind Artemis' eyes crumble, and when she spoke, her voice wavered. "My…?" Jade nodded, opening the arm that was not balancing her child. Artemis stepped forward, wrapping her arms around her sister's neck and silently, brokenly cried into her shoulder.

Lian reached forward and patted her matted blonde hair. "Shush, shush, Ar', shush, shush."

* * *

Jade's first order of business was forcing her sister into the small apartment's shower. She left her daughter to play with the dog (surprisingly gentle for his size, and moderately cheered to have someone to play with) and set about picking up around the place. There was not much to clean, as Artemis was a naturally tidy person, but she did enough to where to apartment seemed brighter when she was finished. In fact, opening the blinds and windows did much to achieve that goal.

Once Artemis emerged, she looked much the same as she had – thin, pale, and tired – but she seemed more refreshed after the steaming shower Jade had pushed her under. She blinked at the bright sunlight streaming into the room, but then she turned her attention to her niece. A wan smile stretched her face. "She getting so big, isn't she?" Jade could not tell if the question was rhetorical, so she hummed in a noncommittal agreement. The blonde took a seat on the floor next to Lian, who immediately forgot about Brucely to crawl into her aunt's lap. "And so pretty, too," she cooed, rubbing her thumb against Lian's baby-soft cheek.

"Well, I must admit, she gets that from me," Jade teased lightly, earning a quick grin from her sister. The best and quickest way in the past to humor Artemis had always been to poke fun at her fellow archer. "To myself, I also credit her intellect and sparkling personality, since she most definitely didn't get those traits from her father." Artemis chuckled lightly, lifting the baby girl into the air.

"Yeah, I can see that."

Jade smiled, joining her sister and daughter on the carpet, and Artemis put Lian down to play again with Brucely. They sat in silence a while, the quiet settling over the pair like a downy blanket. Then, the blonde leaned into her sister, and Jade knew that the "heart to heart," which she had never been particularly good at, was about to begin.

"Wally wanted kids." The silence quickly staled. Jade was in uncharted territory, here. "Not right away. Not _soon_, even. I mean, we were both still at school. But," she gave a wet sigh, "eventually. Always eventually." Jade looked down at her younger sister, at the faraway look in her eyes, which told her that Artemis was not looking at Lian, but at another fire-haired child, a child that would now never come to be.

"What did you want?" Slipped out before Jade could help it, and she inwardly cringed. This was seriously not her forte.

A smile turned up her sister's lips. Jade caught movement of her sister's fingers playing with something around her neck. "I wanted what he wanted."

Jade waited a few beats before she gestured to whatever Artemis was toying with. "And that?" Her sister seemed to only just notice her actions and stilled, clutching the object tightly for a moment. She lifted a thin golden chain from the collar of her shirt, and what dangled from it made Jade pull her closer.

"When?"

"After my mission. It's his mother's. I tried to give it back when I-" her voice choked off. She cleared her throat. "Mary wouldn't take it. Said it was mine, now." Artemis traced her fingers over the ring, ghosting over the ridges of the inlaid gems. The brunette pulled her closer, leaning back against the couch behind them.

It had been a long time since Jade had been a sister, but she decided that it was time that she figured it out.


	3. Light

**Light**

No resistance. Just _being_. Just _speeding_ through space, _hurtling_ through nothing that could slow it down.

_Oh, what joy!_

Faster than anything, faster than any_one_, faster-!

Faster?

No, no faster. Can't go faster. Am light. Am _speed_. But why?

Why light? Not light. Not really.

But – no _resistance_. Why not _fly_?!

Because not light.

Not light.

Slow down.

.

.

.

Slower.

.

.

.

_Not light_. Not anymore.


	4. Artemis

**Artemis**

She swears that she meant to hit the "ignore" button when Dick's name and picture scrolled across the screen, but something inside her told her she had to pick up. She really wants to hunt down that something and kill it.

"I swear to god, Dick, if you ask me _one more time_ if I've seen a doctor I'm going to shove my foot so far up your-"

"_You've just not been eating so well lately, so it's no wonder that you've caught whatever it is you've caught. Please go see someone?"_

Artemis heaved a sigh and curled further into the couch. Brucely gave a lazy yawn next to her, cuddling closer. "It's the flu, Dick. I get it _at least_ once a year, just ask Wa-" she stopped. "My mom. Just ask Mom, she'll tell you the same thing. What I need is some peace and quiet for once in my life to get over this bug, and then I'll be right back up there in the space junk with the superkiddies."

"…_Maybe you should take a break for a while, Artemis."_

What. "_Excuse_ me?!"

"_I'm just saying, you've been getting stressed lately, and that's probably why you caught whatever it is you have."_

"Yeah, _okay_, Big Bird," she snorted. "You've been doting over me so much, maybe you should rename yourself again. Of course, it has to be related to something aviary. Oh! I've got it! From now on, you'll be known as _Mother Hen_."

"_You really aren't making this easy,"_ Dick sighed, the breath crinkling in the phone speakers.

"Hmph," she felt a little proud of herself, actually. Don't ask her why… she just enjoys being contrary, sometimes. "Don't act like me being sick is why you want me on a break, Herr Hen."

"_It is."_

"You are so full of crap."

"_Fine. You've been getting sloppy during missions. You've been going overboard. You've been working yourself too hard at training. You've been irritable and extremely hard to work with. You need to take some you-time, Artemis."_

"I don't want some _me-time, Dick,_" Artemis spat into the receiver as she sat up straighter. "I just want to do _my job._ And how would you know all this, anyway? You haven't been working with the team in _weeks_." Silence. "Barbra told you, didn't she?" Still silence. "_You freaking Bats_."

"_Babs is just worried, Artemis. We all are."_

"Well _stop_. I'm sick of it." She ran a hand over her face. The nausea rolled through her stomach again, and she forced it down. God, this bug was making her _so tired. _"Just leave me alone, Dick. Don't call me for a while."

"_Artemis-"_

She hung up, then turned off the cell. Leaning over to the landline on the end table, she jerked the cord out of the wall.

Artemis returned to her nest of blankets in the center of the couch, and un-paused whatever crime drama she had been watching before she had the _brilliant_ idea of taking Dick's call. However, she only got a few minutes before she had to stop the show again to rush to the bathroom.

After she flushed the toilet, she leaned her head against the cool porcelain, taking a few deep breaths before heaving herself upright. Thinking that she might have something to help in the medicine cabinet, she opened her mirror and paused. When had she last used those tampons? She could not remember the last time that she had her period, which was understandable considering her poor eating habits and her stress that resulted in her losing a bit of weight recently.

No matter. She was looking for the antiemetics. Maybe they were in the medicine box below the sink.

She searched for the medicine in the bottom cabinet, coming up empty. Before Artemis closed the door, however, an innocuous cardboard box caught her eye.

About six months before, a university friend had a brief scare. Artemis, being the great friend and generally all-around awesome human being that she was, had her come to their apartment to take the tests Katie had bought. Once the brunette had taken almost all of them (with every single one coming back negative) she had returned to her own dorm, much relieved and with a new healthy respect for contraceptives. Oh, but when Wally had come home after class and seen the leftover boxes, now _that_ reaction was something Artemis should have caught on tape! The _shade_ his face had been as he held the unopened test in his hand, stumbling over his words and altogether tripping over himself…!

She grabbed the box from its shadowed corner and cradled it in her hands.

The fatigue, the nausea, her missing menstruations, her irritability.

Surely not.

* * *

Her hands were calm as she scrolled through the contacts. She pressed "send" and held the speaker to her ear.

"_Hey." _He sounded tired. Had he sounded that way earlier, or was she really that hard to deal with?

Artemis reached up to her ring, pulling it from under her shirt and running her fingers over its lines. "Hey. I'm sorry." She swallowed. "I've been really tired lately, and generally not great," she breathed a quiet, self-deprecating chuckle.

"_I know, me too. And I shouldn't have pushed you so much earlier. What's up?" _She hesitated, her words sticking heavily in her throat. _"Hey, you there?"_

"When's the soonest you can come around?"

"_I mean, I'm pretty much free for the rest of today. I was supposed to zeta over to the Manor for something later on, but it's nothing I can't do tomorrow."_ Dick paused, and when he spoke again his words were laced with concern,_ "Are you feeling worse?"_

"I just – you were right, I should see the doctor, and I just don't want to be alone, right now," she admitted haltingly. The young woman balanced the phone against her shoulder and reached up to the counter from her place on the floor. "And I think I'll have to take some time off from the team."

She stared at the bit of plastic she held between her fingers, and the pink plus stared back.

"Please just come when you can, okay?"

He must have caught the slight waver in her voice because she could hear the jangle of keys and the slam of a door over the line. _"I'll see you in fifteen, Artemis. Do you want me to stay on the line? I can until the signal gets scrambled from the zeta."_

"No, that's fine. I'll see you in a few minutes. Bye."

"_Bye."_ He ended the call, and Artemis knew he would shorten the travel time by at least half in his rush. She let the cell phone fall from her shoulder into her lap and continued to rub her thumb over her ring.

She curled into herself on the bathroom floor and waited.


	5. Sound

**Sound**

The wind whistled past, the noise almost deafening after running in silence for so long.

Light was too fast, light escaped sound, but Sound was no longer light, no longer careening through the galaxies and bouncing between the stars.

Sound had slowed and now could not escape the thrumming, rushing air as Sound flew past. Occasionally, other things were heard through the wind – a dog bark, a jet engine igniting, garbled extragalactic speech – but Sound moved too fast to catch more than a hint of the echoes before being whisked away.

Sound could not see. All around was the silver-white of the vortex before and the slipstream behind.

Seeing wasn't for Sound. Seeing was for _Material_.

Sound wanted to see, but _oh_ how hard it would be to become material! To become so _slow_. Much hard than becoming Sound from light.

Sound wanted to see. Sound could become material.

Slow down.

.

.

.

_Slower_.


	6. Brucely

**A/N: Hey guys, I know some of you don't like the short little chapters like the one before this, but they're important and I wouldn't include them in the storyline if I didn't think I needed them. So chill out.**

**Brucely**

My Man has been gone for a while.

For a long time, it was my Woman who was gone, but then she came back. My Man had been sad, but I think he had known she was coming back, and when she had, my Man and my Woman were happy again, like we were before she left.

This time, I don't think my Woman knows that he's going to come back. He always comes back. My Man was the one who found me in the wet and brought me home. It's the least I can do to wait for him.

But he's been gone an awfully long time, and my Woman is sadder than he ever was when she was gone. I think she thinks it's too quiet, because some days she turns on the loud picture box and just lets it play until she sleeps. She leaves sometimes like they've always done before, coming back smelling like other people and sweat and sometimes blood, which makes me worried, but it's usually not hers. Instead of smiling when she came back, like they used to, her eyes are red and she just lays down. I sleep with her on the couch, because she won't sleep in their bed.

I can understand that. It smells a lot like him, so I avoid it, too.

Where is he? He's never been gone this long before. My Woman is getting worse; she's barely eating, and now she's sick. She's spent a long time in the bathroom.

A key turns the lock, but it's not my Man who walks in – it's his friend, who always rubs my ears and gives me treats. He's probably here for my Woman, though, so I take him to the bathroom. He stands in the doorway, looking at something my Woman's holding, before falling down next to her and hugging her. She starts to cry, so I go and lean into her, too.

When my Man's gone, it's my job to keep my Woman happy. Even though I haven't been doing such a good job lately, I've been trying, and I'll do better.

My Man's been gone an awfully long time. He needs to come home.


	7. Dick II

**Dick**

His shoulder was sopping wet, but he could not care less about that at the moment, when he had his arms full of a shaking, sobbing Artemis. His eyes darted down to take in the test, now resting on the cold, bathroom floor, once more before squeezing them shut against the flood of stricken tears that threatened to fall down his cheeks.

_Pregnant_.

God _dammit_, Wally, _really?_ His friend was making it very difficult to uphold his promise.

Dick continued to rub his hand over her shoulder in what he hoped translated into slow, calming strokes, although what he held inside was far less calm in nature. When Artemis had called him back earlier, he suspected that being as sick as she was shook her emotional state, and that she probably was ready to finally, _finally_, break down, to cry her heart out and let the healing process begin. Well, she was breaking down, but he would be hard-pressed to say that she would feel better for it.

After about a half hour, when Artemis ran out of tears and her dry sobs were sporadic, Dick gather her in his arms, jostling off the poor dog who most likely did not know what was happening at all, and took her to the bedroom. Just as he realized that the bed did not look slept-in, Artemis found her voice.

"Couch, please."

Dick tightened his hold. "Alright." He deposited her on the couch and pulled the blanket over her shoulders. Brucely took up his spot on her feet, and he took his place on the floor next to her and waited, brushing his hands over her hair.

"So," she croaked after a while, her throat raw after crying for so long, "I'm pregnant." Her voice hitched a bit on the word, and she bit her lips in an effort to hold herself together. "I'm pregnant."

Dick took her hand. "Artemis," he began slowly, "you don't have to be strong about this right now."

She scowled, and he could see the turbulence in her storm-gray eyes. "Yeah, _Dick_, I do." She spat her words with anger and hurt. "Who else would be strong for me? _Wally?_" Artemis gave a broken laugh, which pierced right through the man's chest. "Wally's _gone_. He's _dead_, and he's not coming back, he's not going to walk through that door, he's never going to fix the sink or finish college or become my _husband, _and he's never going to see-" she choked off, a hand shooting immediately to her still-flat stomach, and Dick knew the beginning of a hyperventilation attack when he saw one, "see his kid, oh god, Dick-!" She hid her face in the blanket. He stroked his thumb over her fingers, speaking softly. It took a few minutes for her to regain her breath. "I'm so sorry," she murmured, "I'm so _so_ sorry."

"Shh, it's okay, Arty, it'll be okay." He squeezed her hand. "It's hard. And I'm not going to lie to you, because of been where you are too many times to be fair to a person," she tightened her hold in apology, "it's only going to get harder," she sniffed, "but you are not alone. You've got your family, Artemis. And I don't just mean your mom and Jade. Our _team_ is your family, too, it always has been. So let us help you, alright? _We_'ll be strong for you." She met his clear blue eyes, which he was sure were as red-rimmed as her own. "It's okay to be weak, right now. You'll be strong again soon, but it's okay to be weak, too."

She nodded. "Thank you. For being such a good friend to me."

He laughed a little. "I'm just doing my job. Well, one of them." She gave a watery smile, and snuggled down into the blanket. He waited until she was settled, no hiccups in her breathing, before he breeched another delicate subject. "So, how…?"

"Did this happen? I don't know," she gave a small chuckle, "I've been thinking about it, and it must have been when I got back from the mission. It's a bit hard to keep up on your birth control regimen when you're on a submarine in the middle of the Pacific."

"Understandably." He smiled a little as she gave another short laugh at his frankness.

"Can you come with me to the doctor?" Artemis asked after a moment of hesitation. "You don't have to," she rushed to say, "I just-"

"-Don't want to be alone?" She nodded. "Of course. I'll do anything you need, Artemis."

She swallowed and nodded. "Good. Great. Do you think you could call M'gann? And maybe Zee and Babs?"

"Yeah. Do you want me to stay?" Another nod. "Okay, give me a minute." He released her hand and pulled out his phone. At this time of day, M'gann should be on shift at the Watchtower and should only be pulled off in the event of an emergency. He glanced back at Artemis on the sofa, dragging her nails distractedly through Brucely's short hair before he ducked into the kitchen. He was fairly sure this counted as an emergency, right? He pressed a speed dial and waited for the connective 'click.'

"_Watchtower."_ Dick sighed as he heard Barbra's smooth tone over the line.

"This is Nightwing. Is Miss Martian on shift?"

"_Affirmative,"_ he could hear the smile in her voice, _"would you like me to connect you?"_

"Affirmative," he mocked gently. He could hear a quiet _"asshole"_ before the transfer click and he smiled.

"_Hello?"_

"M'gann, is it a secure line?"

A brief pause, before, _"Yeah, what's up?"_

"I need you in Palo Alto, pronto."

"_What's wrong with Artemis?"_ her concern practically seeped through his speaker. _"Is she alright?"_

"I can't say much about it, but she's not asterous and really needs you right now. Is Zatanna on shift?" He filled a glass of water and set it aside, searching the cabinets for any soup that would be easy on Artemis' unsettled stomach.

"_No, but she's scheduled for the next one."_

"Cancel it, ask her to come when she can. Also, ask Barbra to come when her shift is done, but, M'gann, Artemis needs you _now_." He silently cheered when he found a can of tomato soup stuffed behind some boxes of pasta.

"_Alright, I'm on my way. I'll be there in ten."_

"Thanks, see you then. We're at the apartment."

"_Okay, bye."_

He set about starting the soup, and brought the water out to Artemis. He set it on the coffee table, drawing her attention away from her thoughts.

"Thanks," she smiled. "M'gann?"

"On her way. I'm also making you something to eat."

"Great." She looked towards the television, at the episode she still had frozen. "D'you watch this show?"

"Nah, but I like most crime dramas. Go ahead and hit play."

The two settled in and waited for their third to arrive, momentarily distracted by the lives of the detectives on the screen.


	8. Artemis II

**Artemis**

"Hello? Anyone home?" Artemis called into the seemingly empty manor. She heard some noises from the direction of the study before Ollie tripped through the doorway.

"Artemis!" he exclaimed before pulling her into a hug, which she gladly returned. Since taking on the role of her mentor some six years before, Oliver had very much become like an actual uncle to her, and, at the moment, she relished the companionship of family. He pulled away, and gently put his hands on her shoulders. "How you doing, kid?"

She gave a shaky smile. This was going to be harder than she thought. "I've been better. I need to talk to you about something, actually. You busy right now? I can come back later, or-"

"No, no, I've got a teleconference in about an hour, but I can push that back. Anything to spend a little quality time with my 'niece,'" he winked and she grinned in return. "What's going on? You in trouble?"

"Of a sort," the young archer murmured under her breath, as she allowed the man to lead her to the den and onto the couch. He took the empty adjacent armchair and leaned forward in interest.

"Well, here I am. I'm all ears." Ollie gave an encouraging smile. "How can I help, Artemis?"

Artemis settled more comfortably into the couch. This was the first stop of the many she had to make to go into retirement once more, and it was probably going to be one of the more difficult ones. Ollie had been ceaseless in his concern since the end of the Reach invasion, calling her at least once every other day, but she had enveloped herself in her grief and blocked out any contact with him, with anyone that wanted to comfort her. His eagerness to help, Artemis thought, was completely understandable, because it was the first time that she had allowed him to in weeks. "There's really nothing you can do, it's just something you really need to know." She took a deep breath. "I'm retiring from the team again."

Ollie smiled softly. "I understand. It's times like these that it's best to step away from everything and get your bearings again."

"Er, no," Artemis fiddled with a loose tassel on one of the pillows, pulling it into her lap as a distraction. "That's not the reason…"

Now her mentor looked worried, his brow furrowed in thought. "What did you mean earlier, when you said you were in 'a sort' of trouble, Artemis?" His voice was stern, and he seemed more like a father to her than her own at that moment.

"Well…"

* * *

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Dinah! It's Artemis." She looked uneasily to the side, almost embarrassed that she had to make this call. "Can you get over to Ollie's as fast as you can?"

"_Why, what happened?"_

The protégée glanced down at the man that she respected above almost any other. "He's fainted."

Artemis swore she could hear the smack of Black Canary's facepalm through the cell phone speaker.

* * *

_Well, that's one group down_, Artemis mused as she left the Queen Estate.

After being revived by a sweet smack to the face (courtesy of one Miss Dinah Lance) and Ollie recovered from his shock, the billionaire proceeded to insist on paying for any and all medical fees and to regale Artemis on how he would spoil her child rotten, which, judging by the flood of gifts he drops on Lian, was not a far off assessment.

Dinah promised to reign him in from telling everyone immediately, though she could not give Artemis a better estimate on how long she had before everyone in the League knew of her condition. The woman then engaged Ollie in discussions of setting up a room for her at the estate for "visits," giving Artemis the opportunity to slip out and get to the nearest zeta tube as fast as she could.

As she dematerialized at the Watchtower, she caught Batgirl's eye. Barbara turned from her position at the controls and gave her a look, glancing from her face to her stomach, to which Artemis nodded. The redhead smiled, before turning to the station's intercom.

"_Aqualad to bridge. I repeat, Aqualad to bridge."_

"Thanks."

Batgirl returned her attention to Artemis. "No problem. So the doc confirmed it?" A nod. "Oh, come're." The blonde fell into her friend's hold gratefully, taking the quick squeeze before backing away again. "Is this your first stop?"

She shook her head. "No, I just came from Star City."

Barbara gave an unladylike snort and leaned against the console. "You're kidding me. How'd he take it?"

"I'm pretty sure he's measuring out a nursery suite as we speak."

The other girl laughed for a moment before noticing the tired expression on Artemis' face. "You're serious." Artemis' stare pinned her.

"I am _completely_ serious."

"Serious about what?" A new voice broke into their conversation, and the girls turned to the handsome Atlantean making his way towards them. "Hello, Artemis. I wasn't expecting to see you." He give her a light hug. Artemis was getting a bit sick of the hugs, but returned the gesture anyway.

"Hey there, Kal. We need to talk." She waved a goodbye to Batgirl, who gave an encouraging smile and sat back in her seat. Kaldur'ahm and Artemis strode away from the bridge and into the central corridor.

"Of course. Would a conference room be more comfortable?"

"Just somewhere private we can sit, I guess."

"The observation deck might be more suitable, then."

The pair made their way slowly, exchanging small talk and enjoying the comfortable silences that seemed to settle between them. At their destination, they chose a bench and sat, staring out the large window that separated them from the vacuum of space. The quiet continued to stretch as Artemis gathered herself to what she was about to say.

"You're going to resign from the team."

Artemis shook her head lightly, a small smile gracing her lips. "I don't know how you do that, Kaldur. It's like you're the one with the telepathy, not Miss M."

He smiled and replied softly, "Perhaps it is merely because I know my friends so well."

"Yeah," she murmured and leaned back against the wall behind her. The world turned below them, clouds swirling over the seas and landmasses. Her eyes never strayed above the Arctic Circle. "Yeah, you do."

"What I don't know, however, is why you are leaving us this time. You seem much more… grounded, than you have in the past couple of weeks." She nodded. She knew that her actions on the few missions were more than a little erratic. He turned his gaze away from the window and towards his teammate. "I would be happy to keep you on if it were merely a matter of your discomfort with the team, as you seem to be settling into yourself once more. However, the fact of the matter seems to be that you wish to leave for a reason other than an issue of demeanor. Tell me, Artemis. Why are you resigning?"

She chewed on her bottom lip, a habit that Wally had broken her from years ago. She shut her eyes against the memory and sighed. "I'm pregnant, Kal."

A beat of silence. Then another.

"I believe congratulations is in order, then," she opened her eyes to meet his, which held equal parts joy and sadness, "as well as my sympathies." He did not expand any more on the latter subject, but both he and Artemis knew that doing so was not necessary.

Artemis gave a wet sounding laugh and ran a hand through her unbound hair. "Not the explanation you were expecting, huh?"

"I've learned, in my years as your friend, to never expect a simple explanation," Kaldur'ahm smiled and patted her hand, "from either of you. Both of you have always been unpredictable, to say the least. I hardly expected that to change, now."

Artemis swallowed against the lump in her throat. "Will you," she coughed. "Will you tell the team, for me?"

"Of course. I expect that there may be others you must deliver this news to." She nodded. She had one more stop to make before returning to her mother's apartment in Gotham for the night. "Artemis, don't forget that you have us to support you if you require it. This team-"

"-Is a family. Yeah," the young woman gave a wan smile and dropped her gaze to her hands, "I knew that, consciously, before, but…" she hesitated, "I'm really starting to see that, now."


	9. Barry

**Barry**

He felt awkward as he rapped on the door. Since the end of the invasion, he had seen less and less of his brother-in-law and his wife, a fact that he took no pride in. He knew it was the coward's way, but he just could not bring himself to face the parents of his former protégé. Running was a natural response, after all, and whether it be towards trouble or away from his problems, he was good at it.

When Rudy opened the door, Barry let a small smile flit across his face. "Hey, there. Did you get a call, too?" he asked as he warmly shook the older man's hand.

Rudy stepped aside, allowing the speedster into the living area. "Yeah, though I don't know what about. She wouldn't mention anything on the phone, only that it was important that we get together tonight for dinner. She says she has something she needs to tell us."

"Is that Barry I hear in my house?" A voice called from the kitchen. The middle aged woman stuck her head out from around the corner. "Or do my ears deceive me?"

"Good evening, Mary," he grinned and gave the woman a bear hug. "What seems to be on the menu tonight?" He reached towards a pot lid, curious as to what contents were secreted away beneath it, before his hand was rapped with a flick of Mary's wrist. He rubbed his knuckles, quietly admiring the damage the woman could do with a wooden spoon.

"Spaghetti carbonara, now keep your grubby hands away from it until it's on the table, Mister Allen," she scolded. She paused, and Barry could tell that she was thinking of another speedster trying to sneak snacks, so he rushed to distract her.

"Do you know what this is about, tonight?"

"No," Mary admitted lowly, stirring the noodles in the pot before turning back to preparing a salad. "But she should be here any-" The doorbell rang, and Mary practically tossed a tomato in Barry's face in her excitement. "I'll get it!" She called to her husband, who watched her bemusedly as he continued to set the table for four.

Even from the kitchen, where Barry continued prepping the salad, he could hear the woman's enthusiastic welcomes and the door closing behind the last member of their party. As the two women rounded the corner, the man got his first look at Artemis since that day in the Arctic Circle.

She looked better than what he had heard others describe, more centered than the loose cannon that had been going on the League missions. She still seemed far more delicate than the girl he had known before who wore confidence like a cloak and who seemed to be made of forged steel; there was something in the way that she carried herself, however, that belied that she was working back into becoming that person once more.

When she met his eyes, she tensed like a tightly-wound coil, like the tigress that she took her new name from, and Barry blinked confusedly. She distracted herself once more with Mary and moved to greet Rudy at the table. He watched he mannerisms, noting how she angled herself to have an eye on him at all times.

She perceived him as a threat.

_She_ perceived _him_ as a _threat_.

He threw the chopped tomato into the bowl, but not before snagging a slice for himself and popping it into his mouth. Why would she ask him to a dinner when she was so completely uncomfortable around him? He frowned.

Mary hurried back to the stove, shoving a red onion at the speedster as she did so. "Finish cutting that up and toss the salad, would you, Barry? Now that she's here I can finish this off, and we can eat. So stop stealing pieces out of the salad." The pair worked in tandem to finish off the dinner and moved the food into the dining area.

"Oh, Mary, this looks wonderful," Artemis practically cooed as she took her spot at the table. Keeping in mind her discomfort, Barry took the chair across from her. A look of relief seemed to cross her face before she turned to the eldest man. "Rudy, how are things at the office? Please tell me you caught whoever it was stealing the lunches out of the break room."

Rudy entertained the table with the tales of the Break Room Bandit, and the dinner, all-in-all, seemed to be a success. After they had all polished off the last of their salads, Mary coughed a little into her napkin.

"Artemis, sweetie, you still haven't told us why you wanted to call this dinner. Not that we don't love your company, of course," she smiled comfortingly and grasped the young woman's hand where it rested on the tabletop, "but you seemed to have something specific in mind when you called us."

"I did," the blonde admitted, suddenly looking much more tired than she had scant seconds before, "I do. I have something very important to tell you all, and, even though I've had all day to figure out how to do it, I'm still tongue-tied. So I guess I'll just have to be straight forward about it, because you all really need to know." Mary squeezed her hand and gave her an encouraging smile, and Rudy leaned further forward in his seat in attention. Barry himself tried not to fidget in his seat at the anxiety began to eat at him. "I'm pregnant."

Wow.

He was _not_ expecting that.

Mary gasped lightly, bring her free hand to her lips as tears sprang to her eyes. Rudy seemed to be frozen in time, eyes wide and mouth slightly-agape.

"Oh, honey, come here!" Mary stood and practically pulled Artemis into her arms, squeezing tighter than Barry thought possible for her petite frame. The younger woman, however, relaxed in the woman's grasp. "You know I've always thought of you as a daughter, right? Even before Wally gave you the ring- you still have that, oh don't you?" Artemis wriggled free enough to pull a necklace from her collar, displaying the jewelry to the crying woman. "Oh good oh good. A grandmother! Can you believe it, Rudy?" Mention of his name seemed to snap the man from his stupor, and he rounded the table to save his would-be daughter-in-law from his wife's grasp before pulling her into a bear hug of his own. Barry soon joined them, placing a light hand on her shoulder and smiling.

"Congratulations, Artemis."

She gave him his first smile of the night from the girl, although she still seemed tight with tension. "Thank you, Barry. I wanted to tell you myself instead of you having to hear it from Ollie, although Dinah's running interference on that front."

The blond man laughed. "Yeah, I can see that happening."

Mary interrupted them as she drew the younger woman's attention again. "Artemis! Honey, tell me what you're going to do about school in the fall…"

* * *

The night had mostly wound down by nine o'clock, with Mary and Rudy discussing future plans in the living room as Barry munched on an apple by the fridge. A few moments before, he had spied Artemis stepping outside for some fresh air, and he gave her a few minute's privacy before joining her on the back porch.

"So, Arty," he announced his presence as he come through the sliding doors, shutting them behind him against the early August heat, "are you going to tell me why you've looked like you wanted to stick an arrow in me since you got here?"

She laughed a little to herself as she sat on the wooden porch swing, and it sounded a bit too self-deprecating for Barry's comfort. "Sorry about that. I really don't want to, I promise."

"It's okay. So will you tell me?"

"You're not going to like it."

"Probably not."

They let the silence hang between them, and it was soon filled with the chirping of the cicadas that permeated the night.

"I kind of hate you a little," she quietly admitted, and Barry took the seat next to her on the swing. "Sometimes, I hate you a lot."

"Why do you feel that way, Artemis?" he asked, even though he thought her already knew the answer. It was probably for the same reasons that ran through his mind every night as he tried to sleep.

She drew her knees up to her chest and rested her chin on top of them. "The reasons change. Sometimes it's because you were there to hear _those words_ from him, and I wasn't. Sometimes it's because I wish that you had died instead, and that he was here next to me; those thoughts make me hate myself, too, because I don't mean them," she reassured, "I don't. Not consciously. But subconsciously, Barry, I guess I still blame you a little for what happened," the woman looked down at her hands. "I know it's not right, but I do."

"I blame myself, too," Barry confessed. "So don't feel bad about it." Artemis looked like she was about to protest, but he held up a finger. "Wait. Just know that, even though you believe, on whatever subconscious level, that I'm the reason Wally's gone, I will do _everything_ in my power to make sure that your child will never be without you. I'm not going to take your child away from you."

She relaxed entirely next to him, looking well past her twenty-one years. "I know that, Barry. I guess I just… needed to hear you say it? It's completely irrational." Artemis shook her head. "I'm sorry, I just have a lot of trust-issues, as I'm sure you know."

"It's okay. Believe me, a lot of all this is baby-hormones… I've been going through this with Iris for the past couple of months, so I speak 'irrational' fluently." His words drew a small chuckle from the woman, and he smirked. "Now come're so I can give you a hug that'll put Rudy's grizzly grip to shame." She smiled and accepted his embrace. "I'm happy for you, hon."

Her grasp on the back on his shirt tightened, and she tucked her head further into his chest. "I just wish he were here to be happy, too."

"Oh, he would be so happy, Artemis. He'd be so proud." He rubbed her back in gentle circles and kept himself from imagining what it would have been like if his nephew were just inside.

* * *

Once he closed the door to his home just past ten, he leaned against it and sunk to the ground. He held his head in his hands and curled in on himself.

"Wally, you'd be so happy," Barry murmured against the quiet sobs that wracked his chest. "You'd be so proud."


	10. Material

**Material**

Material glanced about, able to glimpse images through the holes in the silver speed stream.

A park. A rocky shoreline. A traffic jam-packed urban center. A child with brown braids. A woman with a blonde ponytail.

Huh.

Material was slower than Light, than Sound, but Material still flew through the multiverse like Light and heard like Sound. Now, Material had _substance_. Material was _becoming_ something, something with purpose, something with knowledge.

Material knew things, now.

Material knew what the midday sun looked like reflecting off of the cirque glaciers in the Italian Alps and how a white dwarf star shines brilliantly in its final days before its implosion.

Material knew that the _becoming_ was not yet complete. There was still one more stage to go.

Material slowed down.


	11. Artemis III

**Artemis**

She felt the pounding in her head before anything else, a stiff and throbbing pressure against the base of her skull. The cold firmness of the ground was her next sensation, and she knew better than to open her eyes and visibly join the waking world. Instead, Artemis slowed her breathing and heart rate and settled in closer to the concrete floor of her prison cell.

She knew a kidnapping when she saw one.

Artemis attempted to sort through her most recent memories in an effort to grasp a better hold on her situation, but a sharp pain interrupted her thoughts. She would have to fly blind, then.

First things first. Her training (both from her father and Ollie) told her that the first order of business post-kidnapping was to check yourself for injuries. A throbbing in her wrist told her that it was sprained – she probably landed on it when she fell after someone whacked her on the head. The tenderness on her head was probably the worst of it, but that was to be expected, as head injuries were always delicate and bled profusely. Other than a few other cuts and bruises (one notable on her knee from when she walked into her coffee table that morning. Or yesterday. How long had she been out? In any case, _ow_) Artemis felt relatively unharmed.

Next, location.

Artemis listened closely, but the only sounds she could discern were the soft hiss of air through ceiling ducts and what sounded a bit like the rhythmic echoes of a machine somewhere below her. Barely cracking an eye, she took in her quarters. Gray concrete floors, three gray concrete walls, and one translucent glass panel that made up the fourth wall in her cell. No obvious observational devices, although she assumed that an infrared microcamera or two were imbedded throughout the concrete, as was the norm in most of these holding cells. One must have picked up a movement, because soon a hum of electricity reached her ears. She looked towards the translucent panel as the glass cleared, and Artemis tensed at the figure standing in the corridor.

"Hello, Artemis. I was really looking forward to seeing you again." The blonde sat up, as obviously her farce had been discovered, and moved so that her back was to the wall facing the glass. Connecting the dots, she realized that the rhythmic pounding she had heard was not a machine after all, but the crashing of waves against the island's cliffs. Artemis knew _exactly_ where she was.

"I figured Ubu would get you here on time. He's one of your more reliable Shadows, isn't he? Though I must admit, I was hoping that he would have been too late, Ra's."

The elder man hummed his disappointment, though his smirk remained. "They say that Lady Luck is a fickle mistress, though, somehow, she has never abandoned me. In addition, Miss Crock," he tilted his head back in an aloof manner, "as someone who trained under the Shadows for quite some time, I would have expected better respect from you."

Artemis gave a mock grasp, "My apologies! Great One," she murmured as she gave a jeering bow. The movement made her head throb in protest, but she ignored it. "What am I doing here? Infinity Island getting a little lonely with so many of your Shadows grabbed up by the League?" A small tensing at the corner of Ra's al Ghul's mouth told her that she got her location correct.

"Sadly," Ra's paced the length of her cell, running his fingers along the glass, "a few of my less capable servants have been apprehended, yes. But what do the French say? _Que sera, sera_… I have more pressing projects than those halted by those caped buffoons. No, my dear, I had you delivered to me for one simple reason: retribution." Artemis' hand flew to the now visible baby bump beneath her dirtied tunic. "You did put quite a crimp in my plans, after all, _Tigress_. However, when your condition," his eyes slid to her abdomen, "became apparent, a new kind of reckoning seized my mind, and the idea has since begun to grow on me. After all, what would be a better against you, against your _League,_ than one of your own raised in the Shadows?"

Artemis opened her mouth in an angry retort, but her captor pressed a button out of her field of vision. The glass began to fog once more, although his voice carried behind. "Think on it. You have plenty of time to, after all."

Artemis slumped against the wall, exhausted and uncaring of whatever feed was being looped back to surveillance. _Wally,_ she thought to herself, _give me your strength. _Artemis took a deep breath and calmed herself. She did well under pressure. She had been trained for this.

She reached back to where she head was throbbing and met what she knew to be caked, flaking blood, which she had expected, and winced at her touch against the tender area. Bringing her hand back to her lap, she stared at the ruddy flecks silently before she rubbed the dried blood into dust.

It was time to start planning her escape.

* * *

It was some time before anyone returned, but a few hours after her talk with Ra's a panel opened on the bottom of the glass wall. A tray was gently pushed through, laden with a stable meal, a little paper cup with what looked like a couple of her prenatal vitamins from home, and two glasses of water. A note was folded at the top of the tray next to the vitamin cup. The panel slid closed once more, seeming melting into the glass wall as if it had never existed.

During the break in time, Artemis had pieced together what she knew about Infinity Island: located in the Caribbean, staffed by the League of Shadows, multi-layered complex with a Lazarus Pit under the fortress. She estimated herself to be in one of the lower-level containment facilities, which meant that, if she were to escape, she would have to fight her way up to the group level if she wanted a chance to get away, and she would have to do so with a sprained wrist, head injury and possible concussion. Escape did not seem too plausible until she healed more; she estimated, at most, two to five days for her head and concussion, and she could start really using her wrist in about a week's time. If she wanted to be honest with herself, Artemis knew that she should really rest her sprain for three weeks, but she frankly did not have that luxury. In three weeks, her stomach would be even bigger, making it harder to maneuver and run.

Artemis looked down at herself, taking in the slight curve to her belly. As she was currently on her third month, she was just starting to become visibly pregnant. Alas, her lean, mean six-pack was no more. Her doctor had told her at her ten-week check-up on Friday that she should soon start to feel the baby kick, but she had yet to feel the sensation.

During her time alone, she had also slowly gathered what she could of the day she had been kidnapped. It had been a Monday, she could remember that, because she had visited a while with Roy and Lian. Jade had been off doing God knows what – even Roy didn't know, "plausible deniability" he had told Artemis when she had asked – and the visit had last just until lunch, when she had left to meet Zatanna for a late lunch. They had sat at the bistro on the outside patio (she had eaten a cup of soup for her nausea, then told herself _screw it_ and ordered a burger, which she only ate half of, anyway) and caught up. They had parted around two, two-thirty, and Artemis took a shortcut through the park to the zeta tube back to Gotham, where she had been living with her mother at the older woman's insistence.

She does not remember making it to the zeta.

The note on the tray drew her attention, and she left her spot on the back wall to approach the food. She cast the pills a dubious glance as she brought the paper up to her eye level. Carefully, she unfolded the letter and settled back on the floor.

_Ms. Crock,_

_I hope the accommodations are to your liking. If not, I am certain that the two of us can come to some sort of arrangement regarding your comfort here. I have included a few prenatal supplements with your meal, as well as an additional glass of water. I can arrange for additional medical attention, as well. Women in your condition are fragile, I remind you, so take into consideration my offer for new chambers._

_Ra's al Ghul_

She crumpled the note in her hand. _Fragile_. Despite her lack of participation in team missions, Artemis still worked with the younger members on conditioning and training in the Watchtower during the weekend. She was still fit, more athletic, in fact, than she had been when she had been going on missions after Wally's death. She could flip a man three time her weight over her shoulder or break someone's elbow with two strikes. She could run a mile in under six minutes, then turn around and sprint another four hundred meters. Artemis was not _fragile._

She winced at a small stomach cramp and breathed out a sigh. Artemis was not fragile, but her child certainly was. The cell she was currently in held no padding, no facilities. There was no telling how long it would take for her to escape or if there was any outside help looking for her. She could not help but wonder again how long it had been since her abduction – would her mother think that she had stayed in Star City for the night? Did anyone even know that she was missing?

Artemis smoothed out the crumpled note, looked into the upper rear corner where she assumed the microcamera was installed and nodded. She would take up Ra's al Ghul's offer.

The blonde took the tray with her to the back wall and settled in with her food. If she was going to make a bid at escaping, she would need her strength, after all.


End file.
